How Does Barry Bonds Generate So Much Power?
Question:when i watch one of barry's many home run swings i cant seem to get over how he hits it so hard and far but hardly steps into it? then when i play i try to do the same things he does and i cant get as much power cause i need a big step in. also are most MLB players bats heavy or very light?
Answers:
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steroids. plain and simpleWell, the easy answer with Bonds is steroids. However, I understand your question; it isn't so much about Bonds as it is about sluggers in general. Bat speed is a big part of it (which comes from strength and reflexes), as is being able quickly roll your wrists over at just the right moment (reflexes and timing).
Bats these days are very light, like 26.5 - 30 ounces. The reason you see so many broken bats these days is because they use such thin handles to reduce the bat's weight. The lighter the bat, the greater the bat speed. The greater the bat speed, the farther the ball travels when hit.
Here's an article from the American Journal of Physics about how to generate bat speed: http://webusers.npl.uiuc.edu/~a-nathan/p...
It's REALLY technical, but it's pretty interesting.
He gets his power through his legs. And the physics of hitting a ball tells us that the heavier the bat the further the ball will travel. Most MLB players use heavy wooden bats.
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Hitting is all about "bat speed". But I'm sure the steriods helped him too. I belive the bats these days are a bit lighter than they used to be, but more and more players are using maple bats now as opposed to ash. While lighter, maple bats have more "trampoline" effect than ash bats.Looking for video of Matt Chico's wild pitch?
He injects it into every AB.If you're in little league what's your teams record?
steroids, duhForget the steroid answers for a minute.
It is about hand eye coordination and a strong core with leg and shoulder strength. It generates batspeed to bring the bat barrel throught the strike zone at a greater rate to increase the speed at which the baseball is hit off the bat.
more velocity usually means more distance.
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Barry Bonds has a compact swing meaning he gets the bat through the hitting zone very quickly. He has some of the quickest hands in baseball (if you remember the commercial a few years ago when he was hitting balls out coming from a soft toss machine). The man has almost a perfect swing. His eyes are unbelievable (his strikeout to walk ratio is ridiculous). His core muscles..legs, hips, and abs..are very very strong, regardless of steriod use or not.Ok, now for the science of the swing itself:
Bonds hits down on the back half of the baseball, I know this sounds stupid but it is the truth. He creates backspin on the ball, meaning it will fly farther with less wind resistance on the face of the ball. One of the most overlooked things in a baseball swing is the followthrough, It is not mearly for looks. Think of a boxer, is he stronger with his hands extended all the way out, or with them close and compact to the body? Next time you see Bonds hit a ball out of the park, look at the impact point of the swing. His hands and arms are close to the body, and he doesn't fully extend his arms until he is through the hitting zone. He keeps hit power built up behind the ball and doesn't lose any energy until the swing is completed.
I personally do not like Barry Bonds, but I do have to admit he is one of the best hitters ever to play baseball. Steroids or not, it still takes unbelievable skill to hit a baseball. And to hit 700+ home runs in a career is a feat of unbelievable proportions. The man is a great hitter.
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the steroids answer is just ridiculous sure it helps him to hit home runs but the reason he hits homeruns so well is all in his hip turn if you watch a bonds home run carefully you will see how quickly his hips fly out from under him and how much power he gets from left knee, that is why he struggled so much last year with his swing. plus just like hank aaron he has a very compact swing to get around an inside pitch and still keep in fair. and that is what hank aaron and joe morgan have both said.More Questions & Answers...